Formulation is a process through which chemical and natural entities e.g., natural or synthetic chemical compounds, polymers or nanostructures, biological molecules or molecular complexes, drugs/medicines, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), nutrients, fragrances or combination thereof are prepared and combined with secondary materials (ingredients) such as excipients and additives.
This process is used in the studying and characterization of new discovered entities for their development into final products. This process is also necessary to ensure that the final products possesses optimal activity and safety to consumers (including humans) and that they are capable of long-term storage. In other cases, this process is mobilized by producers/manufacturers to receive approval, from local and/or international regulatory authorities, for the commercialization of a new entity or an alternative improved version of old entities or products.
Therefore, formulation is a critical step for preparing and manufacturing an entity or product because it affects the development, marketing and consumption of that entity. However, in industrial, as well as academic settings, finding the right formulation is oftentimes a complex, time-consuming and costly endeavor. This is due to the following challenges. First, there are too many criteria to meet in each formulation. A qualified formulation has to offer solubility, long-term stability, as well as other criteria such as permeability. All these criteria have to be met without compromising the activity and efficacy of the entity of interest and its safety for human consumption. Second, there are too many ingredients, conditions to be tested, and operations to consider for every single property, e.g., stability, in a given limited amount of time. Third, the whole process is very time-consuming because it is based on trial and error and all the operations are still carried out manually. All these challenges render current formulation processes slow, inaccurate, non-reproducible, and very often hazardous to the professional who performs the process because of their direct and repeated/prolonged exposure to chemicals. These problems generally translate into the high-cost and poor-outcome that are well known for the formulation processes.
As such, there remains a need for an apparatus and methods that can screen, search, and discover optimal formulation(s) in a rapid and robust way. Embodiments of the present invention provide a novel solution to the aforementioned problems. There are also other deficiencies that can be remedied based on illustrative descriptions provided herein.